Why Bandy in Winter Olympics

Bandy Will Instantly Expand The Winter Olympic Universe

Bandy will add a heritage sport with real ongoing activity outside and inside the present-day winter Olympic universe. The current sports programme includes mainly heritage sports from districts in seven western European countries. It is uniform rather than diverse. Close to 90 % of historic medals and registered athletes are limited to 12 countries. These nations chiefly win medals in their own heritage sports.

Bandy Will Add Spectators

Bandy scores well in tickets sales. It has more spectators than many Olympic Disciplines obtain in their own national events and international events. Single bandy matches can even have more spectators than some Disciplines achieve in the Olympic Games. Benchmarking evidence suggests that bandy will strongly contribute to overall attendance the Games. This is no surprise as ball-sports are the worlds most popular category sport.

Bandy Will Add Media Audience

There is a high positive correlation between the number of athletes actually participating in a sport and the number of tickets sold on stadiums. Many spectators on the stadium provide positive feedback to the number of television viewers. The correlation in the Winter Games is very high (0.97). Bandy will thus definitely increase the media audience viewing the Winter Games.

Solution To The Cost Problem

Bandy will require only a small portion of the operational costs in relation to the total numbers. Thus bandy will lower the average cost of the Games by all measurements including cost per athlete and per event

Adding Low-cost Events

Bandy will add just two events (Men and Women) to the existing 109 events. This is a minor increase when compared to the total increase of 98 events (890 %) that has taken place since the 1924 Winter Games.

Little operational costs

Adding bandy will require only 1% of the total number of beds and operating cost. Bandy athletes will represent just 5,5 % of the total number of 2900 athletes. This is minor compared to the total increase of 2640 athletes (1024 %) that have taken place since the 1924 Games.

Bandy requires low investment cost

Existing Venue

Bandy requires only a 100 by 60 meter ice surface placed in an existing ball sport venue. This is a common world standard venue used by many ball sports.

Share Venue

Bandy can also share a venue with speed skating, as the interior of a speed skating oval is the appropriate size for a bandy surface

New Norms

Bandy can play preliminaries before the opening ceremony with end matches in the host city.
Alternatively, play the entire competition outside the host city and country. Bandy venues are
available from the Pacific Rim to the Atlantic coast and the USA.

Solution To The Universality Problem

Bandy will instantly expand the Winter Olympic universe from primarily heritage sports from Western Europe and North America into Games that incorporate the entire northern hemisphere. Bandy is a Russian and eastern heritage sport

Bandy Is A Growth Proposition

Bandy is a member of the vast, worldwide, family of sports that are played with a ball. It is the only winter sport in the ball sport family. As such bandy will invigorate the Winter Games by attracting new athletes, spectators, media audiences and sponsors.

The Olympic Charter And Bandy Are Natural Partners

Most of the 92 member nations of the IOC who competed in the 2018 Winter Games cannot obtain established ongoing participation. The main reason is the high cost of local infrastructure for communities. But all these nations share ball sports as a common heritage. Bandy will provide a tremendous opportunity at low cost for these countries to both participate and compete.

Good Governance

The addition of Bandy will meet the 7 fundamental Olympic Principles. The seventh principle demands IOC compliance with Principles 1-6.

Agenda 2020 emphasized The Olympic Principles to hold the IOC to account. They constitute the concrete objective clauses of the Sports programme

Bandy strengthens diversity and non-discrimination stated in Principles 1-3 and 6. To develop sports, solidarity, ethics, and peace across five continents

Bandy is a low-cost sport, both in infrastructure and for the individual participants. Low-cost sport enables high access and opportunity

Low-cost is essential in promoting high participation, diversity, social responsibility, ethics, and solidarity in the Winter Olympic Games

Bandy empowers. It attracts athletes of both genders of diverse human origins, social backgrounds, geographies and demographics not represented today

The 4th Principle declares that non-discrimination is a precondition for fair play. The 5th that fair play is a precondition for good governance

Bandy is with certainty qualified for the Games. Including bandy will comply with the Fundamental Olympic Principles